Mastering SharePoint Hub Site Association with Power Automate

Sometimes you stumble upon a feature that just clicks with how you want to organize things, and for many of us working with Microsoft 365, SharePoint Hub Sites are exactly that. They’re a fantastic way to bring related SharePoint sites together, giving everyone a more consistent and user-friendly experience. But let’s be real, manually linking up every single site can quickly turn into a time sink, especially if you’re dealing with a growing organization. That’s where Power Automate swoops in as your ultimate sidekick, turning what could be a tedious chore into a seamless, automated process.

In this guide, we’re going to pull back the curtain on how Power Automate can make joining SharePoint sites to a hub site a breeze. We’ll walk through everything from understanding the magic of hub sites to the step-by-step process of building your automation flow. We’ll even clear up some common confusion, like the difference between “joining a hub site” and the “join function” in Power Automate – because yes, they sound similar but do very different things! By the end of this, you’ll have a clear roadmap to save tons of time and keep your SharePoint environment neat and tidy, letting you focus on the stuff that truly matters.

Why SharePoint Hub Sites Are a Game Changer for Your Organization

Before we jump into the automation part, let’s just take a moment to appreciate why SharePoint Hub Sites are such a big deal. Think of them as the central nervous system for your related sites, whether they’re for a specific department, a major project, or even different geographical regions. They’re not just a fancy folder. they actually connect your sites in a way that boosts collaboration and makes finding information so much easier for everyone.

Unified Navigation and Consistent Design

One of the coolest things about a hub site is how it brings all its associated sites under one umbrella for navigation. Instead of each site having its own isolated menu, the hub site shares a consistent navigation bar that appears across all connected sites. This means your team members don’t have to guess where to go next. they can effortlessly jump between related sites. Plus, hub sites can enforce a common theme and logo, giving all associated sites a unified look and feel. It’s like having a consistent brand identity across all your digital workspaces, making everything feel more professional and cohesive. It’s a huge win for user experience, as it significantly reduces the mental effort users spend trying to figure out where they are or how to get to another relevant resource.

Content Roll-up and Discovery

Imagine having a central dashboard where you can see news, events, and other content from all the sites associated with a hub. That’s exactly what content roll-up does. Hub sites can aggregate important updates, news articles, and events from their connected sites and display them on the hub’s main page. This means that if someone posts a critical announcement on a regional site, it can automatically show up on the main Sales hub site, giving the entire department visibility. This feature is incredibly powerful for keeping everyone in the loop and ensuring that important information doesn’t get buried in individual site feeds.

Scoped Search

Ever tried searching for something across a sprawling SharePoint environment and felt like you were looking for a needle in a haystack? Hub sites solve this by providing “scoped search”. When you search from a site that’s part of a hub, you can limit your search to just the content within that hub and all its associated sites, while still respecting security permissions. This drastically cuts down on irrelevant search results and helps users find exactly what they need faster. It’s a huge time-saver and makes your information architecture much more effective.

Simplified Management and Flexibility

For the folks managing SharePoint, hub sites are a true game-changer. They offer a more scalable way to organize your environment, adapting easily as your organization grows and changes. Administrators can manage navigation once at the hub level, and those updates automatically go out to all associated sites, saving a ton of time and keeping things consistent. And if you need to restructure things, moving a site from one hub to another is pretty straightforward. This flexibility is a massive improvement over older, more rigid SharePoint structures. It lets you create an intranet that truly reflects your organization’s dynamic nature. The Joe Chernov Playbook: How a Marketing Maverick Shapes the Digital World

The Power of Automation: Why Power Automate is Your SharePoint Sidekick

Now that we’ve gushed about how great SharePoint Hub Sites are, let’s talk about making them even better with Power Automate. In today’s fast-moving business world, getting rid of repetitive tasks isn’t just a nice-to-have. it’s essential for keeping productivity high. That’s where Power Automate, a key part of Microsoft’s Power Platform, really shines. It lets you automate workflows and connect different apps and services without needing to write complex code.

When you bring Power Automate into your SharePoint world, it becomes this incredibly robust solution for automating all those mundane tasks that used to eat up your day. Think about it: every time a new project site is created, someone probably has to manually go in and link it to the relevant hub site. If you’re doing that a few times a week, it adds up. Power Automate can take that burden off your shoulders, ensuring consistency and freeing up your time for more strategic work. It’s about working smarter, not harder, and making your digital workspace truly efficient. For instance, more than 100 SharePoint templates are available in Power Automate, showcasing its deep integration. Studies have shown that organizations using automation tools like Power Automate can see significant efficiency gains, with some reporting up to 70% reduction in manual tasks.

The Manual Way: How to Associate a Site to a Hub and why you’d automate it

Before we dive into the cool automation stuff, let’s quickly go over how you’d normally connect a site to a hub. It’s pretty simple for one-off tasks, but you’ll quickly see why automation becomes so appealing for larger operations. Jonathan Hunt HubSpot: Revolutionizing Media & Growth

To manually associate an existing site with a SharePoint hub site, you, as the site owner or someone with higher permissions, would:

1. Navigate to the site you want to associate.
2. Select Settings the gear icon in the top-right corner.
3. Click on Site information.
4. In the “Edit site information” panel, you’ll see a Hub site association dropdown.
5. From there, you simply select the hub site you want to link your site to, then click Save.

Sounds easy enough, right? And it is, if you’re doing it once in a blue moon. But imagine you’re an admin in a large organization, provisioning dozens or even hundreds of new project sites or departmental sites every month. Clicking through those menus, selecting the right hub, and hitting save, over and over again? That’s not just tedious. it’s a huge drain on time and resources. Plus, it introduces the risk of human error—someone might pick the wrong hub, or forget to associate a site altogether. This is precisely why Power Automate becomes indispensable, especially when a consistent and connected information architecture is crucial.

Automating Hub Site Association with Power Automate: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Alright, let’s get into the good stuff! Automating the process of joining a SharePoint site to a hub site with Power Automate is where you truly unlock efficiency. It means you can create new sites, or even convert existing ones, and have them automatically linked up, saving you loads of manual clicks.

Step 1: Promote Your Hub Site if you haven’t already

Before you can join a site to a hub, you obviously need a hub site! If you’ve already got one, great, you can skip this part. If not, here’s a quick rundown on how to promote an existing site to a hub site: Master Your Inbox: How to Seamlessly Integrate HubSpot with Outlook

1. Go to your Microsoft 365 admin center.
2. From the left-hand menu, click on Show all, then SharePoint. This takes you to the SharePoint admin center.
3. In the SharePoint admin center, navigate to Active sites.
4. Select the site you want to make a hub it needs to be an existing Team Site or Communication Site.
5. In the command bar, click on Hub, then Register as hub site.
6. Give your hub a display name and click Save.

Boom! You’ve got yourself a hub site. Now, any sites you associate with it will inherit its navigation, theme, and other goodies.

Step 2: Grab That Hub Site ID

To automate the association process in Power Automate, you’re going to need the Hub Site ID. This is a GUID Globally Unique Identifier that uniquely identifies your hub. You can get this in a couple of ways:

• Using a Browser API Call the quick way:

  1. Go to your hub site in your browser.
  2. Append /_api/site?$select=IsHubSite,HubSiteId to the end of your hub site’s URL and hit Enter. For example, https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/YourHubSite/_api/site?$select=IsHubSite,HubSiteId.
  3. You’ll see a page with JSON data. Look for the HubSiteId value. it’s a long string of letters and numbers. Copy this GUID, as you’ll need it for your Power Automate flow.

• Using PowerShell for admins:
  You can also use the Get-SPOHubSite cmdlet in PowerShell if you have the necessary administrative access. This command will list all your hub sites and their IDs.

Keep this Hub Site ID handy. it’s the key to linking everything up in Power Automate. Integrate HubSpot with Gmail: Supercharge Your Sales and Marketing!

Step 3: Building Your Power Automate Flow to Join a Site

Now for the fun part – creating your Power Automate flow! There are a couple of ways to do this, depending on your comfort level and the specific needs of your automation.

Option 1: Using the “Join Hub Site” Action The Easiest Route

For most standard scenarios, Power Automate has a dedicated “Join Hub Site” action in its SharePoint connector, which is super straightforward to use.

1. Start a New Flow:

   • Go to Power Automate.
   • Click + Create and choose Instant cloud flow for testing, you can trigger it manually. Or, if you’re integrating it into a site provisioning process, you might use a different trigger like “When an item is created” in a list that tracks new sites.
   • Give your flow a name e.g., “Associate Site to Sales Hub” and click Create.

2. Add the “Join Hub Site” Action:

   • Click + New step.
   • Search for “SharePoint” and then select the SharePoint connector.
   • Search for “Join Hub Site” and select that action.

3. Configure the Action: HubSpot Certifications: Are They Really Recognized, and Are They Worth Your Time?

   • Requesting site address: This is the URL of the site you want to associate with the hub. You can either select it from a dropdown if it’s already known or use a custom value e.g., if you’re getting the site URL from a previous step in your flow.
   • Hub Site Id: Paste the Hub Site ID GUID you copied in Step 2 here.

   Optional Parameters:

   • Approval Token: If your hub site requires approval for new associations which we’ll talk about next, you might get an approval token from a preceding approval step in your flow.
   • Approval Correlation Id: Similar to the approval token, used in specific approval scenarios.

4. Save and Test:

   • Save your flow.
   • Manually test it if you used an instant trigger by clicking Test and following the prompts.
   • After a successful run, go to the associated SharePoint site and refresh. You should see the hub’s navigation appear! You can also confirm this in the SharePoint admin center under “Active sites” by checking the site’s hub association.

Option 2: The “Send an HTTP request to SharePoint” Action For Advanced Scenarios

Sometimes, the out-of-the-box actions don’t quite cut it, or you need more control, especially for complex provisioning processes or if you’re associating a hub site to another hub site. This is where the “Send an HTTP request to SharePoint” action comes in handy. It allows you to directly interact with the SharePoint REST API.

1. Start a New Flow: Same as Option 1 Create an Instant cloud flow or choose an appropriate trigger.

2. Add the HTTP Request Action: Cracking the Inbound Marketing HubSpot Quizlet

   • Search for “SharePoint” and select the SharePoint connector.

   • Choose the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action.

   • Site Address: This should be the URL of the site you want to join to the hub.

   • Method: POST

   • Uri: _api/site/JoinHubSite'<HubSiteID>' where <HubSiteID> is the GUID you copied earlier. Make sure to include the single quotes around the GUID. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification: Your Essential Guide to Digital Growth

   • Headers:

     • Accept: application/json.odata=verbose
     • Content-Type: application/json.odata=verbose

   Example for associating a hub to a parent hub a more advanced scenario:
   If you’re trying to set a ParentHubSiteId i.e., making one hub a ‘child’ of another for broader search scope, you would modify the settings of the newly created hub site using its ID. This is a MERGE operation.

   • Site Address: The URL of the child hub site.
   • Uri: _api/HubSites/GetById'<HubSiteID of the child hub>'
     • X-HTTP-Method: MERGE
     • If-Match: *
   • Body:

     {
       "__metadata": { "type": "SP.HubSite" },
       "ParentHubSiteId": "@{variables'ParentHubSiteId'}" // Use an expression to get the parent hub ID
     }
     

   Remember, the Send an HTTP request to SharePoint action is quite powerful but requires a good understanding of the SharePoint REST API.

3. Save and Test: Just like before, save your flow and give it a manual test. Always verify the association in SharePoint after the flow runs.

Step 4: Handling Approval Workflows for Hub Site Joins

Sometimes, you don’t want just any site to automatically join your hub. You might want an approval process in place, which is a smart move for governance. SharePoint and Power Automate have a great way to handle this. Why Is HubSpot Stock Down? Unpacking the Recent Dips (And What Comes Next)

1. Enable Approval on the Hub Site:

   • Go to your hub site.
   • Click Settings gear icon -> Hub site settings.
   • Toggle Require approval for associated sites to join to On.
   • This will prompt you to create an approval flow. You can use the default one or create a custom one.

2. Creating a Custom Approval Flow if desired:
   If you choose to create your own approval flow, you’ll use a specific trigger:

   • Trigger: “When a site has requested to join a hub site” under the SharePoint connector.
   • This trigger fires whenever a site owner tries to associate their site with a hub that has approvals enabled.
   • Within your flow, you can then add an Approvals action e.g., “Start and wait for an approval”.
   • Based on the outcome approved or rejected, you’ll use SharePoint actions like:
     • Approve hub site join request: If the request is approved.
     • Cancel hub site join request: If the request is rejected.

   This setup ensures that a human eye reviews each association request, providing a great balance between automation and control. Approvers will typically get a notification email or a task in Microsoft Teams, making the process smooth for everyone involved.

Understanding the join Function in Power Automate A Quick Detour

We’ve been talking a lot about “joining a hub site,” but there’s another “join” that often pops up when you’re working with Power Automate: the join function. It’s super useful, but it does something entirely different, and it’s important not to mix the two up! Is HubSpot a CRM Software? Absolutely! Here’s Why It’s a Game-Changer for Your Business

The join function in Power Automate is all about converting an array into a single string. Think of it like taking a list of items and putting them all together into one sentence, using a specific separator or “delimiter” between each item.

For example, imagine you have an array of names: .
If you use the join function with a comma and a space as the delimiter , , it would turn that array into a string that looks like this: "Ali, Sarah, Omar".

Here’s what that might look like in a Power Automate expression:

joinvariables'MyNamesArray', ', '

Why would you use this?
This function comes in handy for so many scenarios, like:
*   Building an email recipient list from an array of email addresses.
*   Creating a neatly formatted string for a log file or a message in Microsoft Teams.
*   Generating a CSV line from a list of data points.
*   Displaying multiple selected values from a SharePoint choice column in a single text field.

So, while the word "join" is in both phrases, remember that joining a hub site refers to associating a SharePoint site with a hub for organizational purposes, and the `join` function is a data operation used to manipulate arrays into strings within your Power Automate flows. Totally different beasts!

 Tips for Successful SharePoint Hub Site Automation

Getting your hub site automation just right can feel like a puzzle, but with a few pointers, you’ll be building reliable flows in no time. Here are some pro tips to keep in mind:

# Permissions are Paramount

This is a big one. To create and manage hub sites, you typically need to be a SharePoint administrator. For a site owner to associate their existing site with a hub, they usually need site owner permissions or higher on that specific site. When you're building Power Automate flows that interact with SharePoint, the connection you use for the SharePoint connector needs to have the right permissions to perform the actions you're asking it to do. If your flow is failing, often the first thing to check is whether the account used for the SharePoint connection has sufficient privileges for both the site being associated and the hub site itself. Using a service account with the necessary admin rights for these automated tasks is often a good practice to ensure consistency and security.

# Embrace Error Handling

Things can and will go wrong sometimes. Maybe a site URL is incorrect, or the hub ID isn't found. Building robust error handling into your flows is crucial. You can use "Configure run after" settings on actions to define what happens if a previous step fails, and incorporate actions like "Terminate" or "Send an email" to notify you of issues. This prevents your flows from silently breaking and helps you address problems quickly. It's about being prepared, not paranoid!

# Test, Test, Test

Seriously, I can't stress this enough. Before deploying any automation to a production environment, test it thoroughly. Start with simple test sites and a test hub. Check every possible scenario: a new site, an existing site, a site that's already part of another hub it can only be associated with one at a time, and what happens if approval is required. The more you test, the more confident you'll be in your automation.

# Governance and Planning are Your Best Friends

Automating hub site association is powerful, but it needs to fit into your organization's broader governance strategy. Think about:
*   Naming conventions: Establish clear naming conventions for your hub sites and regular sites.
*   Who can create hubs? Only SharePoint admins can create them.
*   Who can associate sites? Define clear guidelines.
*   Approval processes: Decide if and when approvals are needed for sites joining a hub, especially in larger organizations. This proactive planning prevents chaos down the road and ensures your SharePoint environment remains organized and useful for everyone. When implemented strategically, hub sites streamline management and deliver a more cohesive digital workplace.

By keeping these tips in mind, you'll be well on your way to building effective and reliable Power Automate flows for managing your SharePoint hub site associations. It truly elevates your SharePoint experience, making it not just functional, but also future-proof.

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 Frequently Asked Questions

# What exactly is a SharePoint Hub Site?

A SharePoint Hub Site acts like a central point that connects related SharePoint sites based on things like projects, departments, or regions. It helps create a unified experience by sharing navigation, branding like themes and logos, and making it easier to search for content across all associated sites. It’s not a subsite. it’s a way to organize independent sites without traditional site hierarchy.

# How does Power Automate help with SharePoint Hub Sites?

Power Automate automates the process of associating or "joining" a SharePoint site to a hub site. Instead of manually going into each site's settings and linking it, a Power Automate flow can do this automatically, saving a huge amount of time and ensuring consistency, especially in organizations that create many new sites. It can also be used to manage approval processes for sites wanting to join a hub.

# What is the difference between "Join Hub Site Power Automate" and the "join function" in Power Automate?

They're completely different! "Join Hub Site Power Automate" refers to automating the connection of a SharePoint site to a SharePoint hub site using Power Automate. The "`join` function" in Power Automate, on the other hand, is an expression used to convert an array a list of items into a single string, using a specified separator. For example, it can turn `` into `"apple, banana"`.

# Do I need special permissions to automate hub site association?

Yes, absolutely. To promote a site to a hub site, you need SharePoint administrator privileges. To associate an existing site with a hub either manually or via automation, the connection used in Power Automate typically needs to have sufficient permissions on both the site being associated and the target hub site. For seamless automation, it's often best for the Power Automate connection to use an account with tenant admin rights, particularly if you're working with the "Send an HTTP request to SharePoint" action for advanced scenarios.

# Can Power Automate handle approvals for sites joining a hub?

Yes, it can! SharePoint hub sites have a setting to "Require approval for associated sites to join". When this is enabled, Power Automate has a dedicated trigger, "When a site has requested to join a hub site," which you can use to build an approval workflow. This flow can then use actions like "Approve hub site join request" or "Cancel hub site join request" based on the approver's decision.

# What if my SharePoint hub site requires an approval token?

If your hub site is configured to require approvals for new site associations, and your Power Automate flow is designed to bypass the traditional approval flow e.g., if an approval happened elsewhere, the "Join Hub Site" action might ask for an "Approval Token." This token would typically be generated by a previous approval action in a more complex Power Automate workflow, especially if you're using the "Approve hub site join request" action. It ensures that the association is authorized even when not going through the built-in hub approval process.

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